The Oracle Paths

1178  The Root of All Evil

As for Claire's current precarious circumstances, aka the Spirit Artefact of the Lumyst Chalice, this was a little more complicated. During the battle against the World Eater, the chalice serving as her vessel, along with her spirit, had shattered, scattering fragments across space. Thanks to the gravitational pull exerted by Klayr's corpse, these fragments mostly fell back onto the future world-plane, crashing all over Twyluxia.

Long before his death, Klayr, like Jake, had developed his own Inner Space, a dimensional pocket nestled inside his body and accessible only by him. Of course, it was incomparably larger. This was where he housed the non-combatant cosmic monks of his order or his own Floating Island when it still mattered to him.

Drawing its origin from him, this Inner Space was so massive and advanced it could easily be compared to a mini-universe. It was common among the strongest Aetherists and other Ancient Designers with a decent understanding of spatial magic or a predisposed bloodline, simply known as the Inner World in their circle.

Klayr's death led to the shattering of this dimension, revealing it to the real world though little remained. It was on the ruins of this Inner World that the continent known as Twyluxia would rise, its natives being the original descendants of inhabitants too young or weak to fight or flee.

Regarding the broken soul of the Spirit Artefact, the soulless fragments took refuge in all sorts of chalices, goblets, and glasses scattered across the ruins of this Inner World. The one housing the damaged consciousness of the Spirit Artefact was not so lucky to retire in obscurity.

Despite the awakening of the World, Sun, and Moon Spirits, which would form the future ecosystem of Twyluxia, it was still a ravaged corpse on the brink of disintegration. With the threat of the Chitin Blade Spirit, who had not lost its World Eater instincts, the future of the world-plane as Jake knew it was still uncertain.

Claire didn't want to see her creator's body desecrated by his enemy even after death, so she chose the ultimate sacrifice to ensure Klayr's legacy continued through the descendants and families of his disciples, as her mentor had never had children.

To achieve this, it was first necessary to restore a complete Lumyst circulation system, at least locally, on the ruins of her mentor's Spirit and Life Lumyst Cores to save as much energy as possible.

The ruins of the Inner World that survived and would become the continent of Twyluxia had appeared somewhere around the neck, almost equidistant from the shattered Spirit and Life Lumyst Cores. The first was located in the brain, at the pituitary gland, while the second was in the heart.

At that time, both types of Lumyst were flowing from the damaged organs in unending streams, ejected into space forming a long luminous trail spanning half a galaxy, Klayr's corpse drifting like an immense comet. To stabilize the Inner World, stabilize her creator's corpse, and slow the Blade Spirit's spread, it was crucial to stop this energy leakage.

To do this, the already greatly weakened Spirit Artefact used her unparalleled affinity and understanding of Lumyst to gather the chaotic Lumyst. Claire then used this colossal amount of energy to restore the two Lumyst Cores on the verge of destruction and the circulation system connecting them. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Thus, what future Twyluxians would call the Underworld and the Heavenly Cascades came into being, along with the two antagonistic biomes known as the Duskwight Lands and Lustra Plains. The mythical Lumyst River was merely an artificially recreated meridian to re-establish circulation between the two.

With the remaining Lumyst, Claire formed the membrane enveloping and protecting Twyluxia, its size matching the ruins of the Inner World that had survived the battle.

Following this heroic act that no one remembered, the already weakened Spirit Artefact, separated from her Artefact, used up her last strength. Her comatose soul then wandered aimlessly among the many tormented souls of the dead, temporarily forgetting her own purpose.

Time passed, and the physical fragments of the Lumyst Chalice scattered across Twyluxia gave rise to all sorts of sentient entities, while others fused with the earth, falling into oblivion. According to Claire, it was likely thanks to or partly because of the vital energy from these fragments that the World, Sun, and Moon Spirits were born, or at least quickly gained power.

This logic also applied to the enemy...

Jake found it hard to believe, but she revealed to him that the sun shining above Twyluxia was a very small star, not much bigger than Earth. It shone much brighter, and according to her, it could even regenerate after consuming all its hydrogen, multiplying like a cell. In this respect, the Sun Spirit fit the definition of both an Abyssal Revenant and a Titan, possessing both vitality and spirituality.

As ridiculous as it might sound, it was a living sun. Just like the Moon and Twyluxia.

As the main continent built on the ruins of Klayr's Inner World, his corpse, and his two Lumyst Cores, Twyluxia was by far the most powerful of the three, its power far exceeding what many Evolvers would call a god.

At least, that's what would have happened without the mortal wound left by the World Eater. The quasi-divine power of Twyluxia had only served to postpone its death. Death, which was imminent.

But before explaining the current dire situation and the ongoing war, it was necessary to go back a bit, a few years after the genesis of the four Spirits and Claire's entry into a coma.

Returning to the Lumyst Chalice fragments, one fell not far from the Heaven Cascade, on the bed of the future Lumyst River. Most materials wouldn't survive a Life Enchantment by such pure water, but this was a fragment of a legendary Diamond Aether Artefact. Moreover, it was entirely designed to contain and manipulate the purest Lumyst of Klayr.

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Returning to the Lumyst Chalice fragments, one fell not far from the Heaven Cascade, on the bed of the future Lumyst River. Most materials wouldn't survive a Life Enchantment by such pure water, but this was a fragment of a legendary Diamond Aether Artefact. Moreover, it was entirely designed to contain and manipulate the purest Lumyst of Klayr.

What was bound to happen happened. An inert piece of the original Lumyst Chalice came to life. And that, despite the Spirit Artefact of the chalice it once belonged to still breathing.

It took a few millennia before the scrap of gold from the chalice developed a survival instinct strong enough to gain its own individuality.

Never having come into contact with Spirit Lumyst, its spirituality had never specifically awakened, and a piece of metal, even a living one, obviously didn't have the organs for cognition. If Klayr considered Claire's birth a miracle, it was for a good reason.

But the fragment was alive, and that was enough for the slow evolution process to continue. Its instinct, although primitive, made it adopt a shape and abilities close to its former role, becoming the Chalice of Etherlife.

A living Artefact with such miraculous properties was bound to be picked up sooner or later by a native of the Lustra Plains. The Radiant Conclave was born, as well as the first Celestial. The Chalice of Etherlife would become their sacred relic, the foundation of their future prosperity.

It was from this point in history that Claire's knowledge lost reliability, her consciousness being in a forced sleep at the time. She only vaguely remembered 'feeling' its existence when it came to life.

Because the Chalice of Nethershade and its numerous replicas had existed in the Duskwight Lands for a long time, she could understand why the fragment was renamed Goblet of Ethershine to counter the former, but she couldn't explain why the chalice suddenly became a goblet.

However, there were troubling clues... All the Goblet of Ethershine replicas were made of wood. More precisely, they were all carved from Anthace wood.

It was from this point that hostilities between the Duskwight Lands tribes and the Radiant Conclave truly erupted, leading to the total war raging now. Initially, it seemed like a conflict over resources or territory, but it soon became clear that the underlying motivation was far more ambitious.

To collect the scattered fragments of the Lumyst Chalice. Even reduced to a comatose soul fragment, Claire could still distinctly sense the location of each of them. Over the millennia of conflicts shaking Twyluxia, she had distinctly felt their number dwindling.

She had also perceived several of her soul fragments extinguishing when the replicas of the Chalice of Nethershade she had formed were captured by the enemy. After losing a substantial number of soul fragments equivalent to half her soul, the remainder finally received a jolt.

Driven by an irrepressible survival instinct, Claire's muddled soul began to painfully emerge from its coma. This resurrection process didn't happen in the blink of an eye.

A few more centuries passed before she fully regained consciousness. She then merged with an ordinary chalice and began to gather her strength before investigating the situation.

The fact that her creator's body and the Lumyst circulation system she had recreated still persisted after her long coma certainly moved her, but her joy soon faded when she communicated with the World Spirit for the first time.

Their eternal enemy, the gift left by the World Eater, had long since gnawed away at Twyluxia's influence until its roots reached the surface. And these roots were not just a metaphor but manifested quite tangibly...

A Tree.

We've finally wrapped up the lore. We'll return to the present in the next chapter. It took longer than I expected, and I still don't know if I revealed it in the best way or if I said too much. It seemed indispensable at the time. In hindsight, some information might not have been essential for understanding what comes next, or it could have been revealed at another point, but it is what it is. Anyway, enough talk, the action returns soon.

Arkinslize